The Amateur Anthropologist: Chester

The unwanted misfortunes of life

I’ll admit that the title for this blog post isn’t particularly positive. It is however a pretty decent reflection of my mood and situation at the moment. Pinpointing down exactly what is causing me such misery would be difficult, mainly because there are so many things. In brief though, it’s not at all pleasant, and as much as I wish I could push it away, the problems are here to stay (until luck comes knocking at my door again).

By now you’re probably wondering what my rant has anything to do with my visit to Chester. The link’s indirect, but understandable. Travelling, as you know, is something I use as an instant mood booster. The idea of going somewhere new and fascinating is truly therapeutic to me. But when travelling just isn’t an option (like the current situation), the best thing to do is to simply recount about the adventures that had turned out well from the past.

So, in order to “turn my frown upside down”, today’s travel tale is about my trip to Chester, which occurred several months ago.

Entering the walled city

Known for its well-preserved medieval covered walkways that date back to the 13^th century, it’s no wonder that an architecture fanatic like myself was more than eager to explore the distinctive two-tiered medieval galleries in Chester’s town centre. Of course, there were other more popular attractions outside of Chester to see; a lot of people recommended that I pay a visit to its zoo but, having studied and lived in Australia for 3 years, I think I can safely say that I’ve seen enough exotic animals to las myself for a while (at least for this trip anyway). It’s no surprise that I ended up spending most of my trip simply photographing every store, window, door and sign I could find.

Note to future Chester wanderers, bring a camera (my iPhone was definitely NOT enough)

Chester Rows are filled with amazing shops of all kinds. Whether you want confectionery, clothes, cards or anything else, the items on offer can practically meet anyone’s shopping list. You could literally spend the entire day shopping, or window shopping if you’re on a student budget like I am! Would I be able to pick a favorite shop? Absolutely not with such a huge range available. I couldn’t have been happier just simply walking up and down the streets of Chester (especially since it was super sunny on the day that I went).

With an hour and a bit left before my train was due, I decided to pop in to Chester Cathedral for a quick peek. Being a bit of a history geek, I was sure that the Grade 1 listed building would definitely fit my criteria. I didn’t get time to take the Tower Tour (and for those that do have time, I strongly recommend that you do go; you get discover 900 years of history in just 30 minutes or 1 hour depending on which tour you book!), but I did have an enjoyable time simply wandering through each part of the cathedral. There was also an interesting Alice in Wonderland display on, which was rather cute in my opinion.

Inside Chester Cathedral

There were a couple of other things I didn’t have time to visit, like Chester Castle and the Grosvenor Musuem. And unfortunately, the famed Eastgate Clock was under renovation when I arrived, so I wasn’t able to take a photo of it. All this means that I’ll have to go back to Chester again sometime in the future (for sure)!

Feeling revitalized and ready for action

Obviously the above wasn’t exactly how I felt after my trip to Chester had ended (I made sure I had a good night’s sleep to make up for all that walking!). However, the title does appropriate reflect my current mood. In just 600+ words, I have gone back to being my cheery old self, and am more than prepared to take on whatever life has install for me, be it good or bad.